Oklahoma football: Eight great books on Sooner gridiron history
By Chip Rouse
“The Undefeated: The Oklahoma Sooners and the Greatest Winning Streak in College Football,” by Jim Dent, with Foreward by Barry Switzer. Thomas Dunne Books, 336 pages
The title says it all. This is the story of college football’s longest winning streak. From 1953 until late in the 1957 season, Oklahoma won a record-setting (and still standing) 47 consecutive football games. This is a record that may stand forever and is often compared to Joe DiMaggios’s 56-game hitting streak in baseball — two records that may stand defy the odds and may stand the test of time.
Fans of OU football history will delight in reliving the memories and moments shared in this informative book by Jim Dent of the incredible Bud Wilkinson era. During an extraordinary nine-year period, Wilkinson’s teams compiled a record of 94-4-2.
In the foreward to the book, written by Barry Switzer, the legendary Sooner head coach wrote:
"In the early 1950s, “the people of Oklahoma needed something to hang their dreams on. The state was battered pretty badly in the Dust Bowl, and it was Bud Wilkinson and the Sooners who brought the morale back.”"
Dent’s dedication in the book also is highly telling of what this story is about:
"“This book is dedicated to the resilient Oklahomans. Tough land. Tough times. Tougher people.” Next: "What It Means to be a Sooner," by Jeff Snook"